Specimen pretreatment liquid, kit for measuring virus, and method for detecting virus

The present invention relates to a specimen pretreatment liquid as well as a virus measurement kit and a virus detection method using the specimen pretreatment liquid.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is an infectious disease found in recent years. The pathogen causing SARS is confirmed to be a new virus (SARS virus) classified into Coronaviridae. SARS virus is a virus infecting the respiratory organs. The initial symptoms of SARS are influenza-like symptoms such as rapid fever, cough, breath shortness, and respiratory distress. About 1 week after first appearance of fever, the symptom of respiratory distress starts to appear in some cases. At the same time, the ability of the virus to infect other persons is heightened in many cases.

Generally in diagnosis of influenza infection, a specimen such as rhinorrhea or sputum is treated with a pretreatment liquid containing a surfactant, and then an influenza virus-derived antigen (protein) contained in the specimen is measured by an immunoassay method (see, for example, JP-A 2006-189304 and US2004265800).

When influenza virus is measured, the virus can be sufficiently measured by the method described above. However, when SARS virus is measured, the amount of SARS virus contained in a specimen such as rhinorrhea or sputum collected from a SARS patient is very lower than in the case of influenza virus. Accordingly, the accurate measurement of SARS virus by the method described above has been difficult.

The scope of the present invention is defined solely by the appended claims, and is not affected to any degree by the statements within this summary.

An object of the present invention is to provide a specimen pretreatment liquid necessary for accurate measurement with improved detection sensitivity in an immunoassay method of measuring a virus such as SARS virus contained in a very small amount in a specimen such as rhinorrhea or sputum.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a kit for measuring a virus and a method for detecting a virus, both of which comprise using the specimen pretreatment liquid described above.

When a virus in a specimen is measured by an immunoassay method, the specimen can be pretreated with the specimen pretreatment liquid of the present invention to improve detection sensitivity. Accordingly, -even a virus such as SARS virus occurring in a very small amount in a specimen can be measured more accurately.

The specimen used in the present embodiment is one which can be collected from the living body and is likely to include SARS virus. Specifically, the specimen comprises rhinorrhea and/or sputum. A method of collecting the specimen is not particularly limited, and a known method can be used. Specifically, an aspirator or a cotton-tipped swab can be used to collect rhinorrhea or sputum.